Love and Forgiveness
by Battleofthegood
Summary: Severus makes a mistake and ends up with a daughter. Will his daughter be able to change his perceptive? Meanwhile, Sirius makes a mistake himself, though he had yet to know. SS/OC, SB/OC, RL/NT.
1. Prologue

**Severus makes a mistake and ends up with a daughter. Will his daughter be able to change his perceptive? Meanwhile, Sirius makes a mistake himself, though he had yet to know. SS/OC, SB/OC, RL/NT. **

**I made a very small prologue.**

* * *

**Prolgue**

Love: The most powerful magic.

The Dark Lord would laugh at it, Severus knew. _He, _Severus Snape, used to laugh at it. Now he knew. He knew he had been wrong, because love _was_ the most powerful magic. If only he had realised it sooner.

There had been a girl, a lifetime ago (or so it seemed to Severus), she had red hair and green eyes. The world would simply stop when she smiled. Severus had not known then that love was the most powerful thing of all. _That_ had been his biggest mistake, although he made quite a few.

Once the realisation, Severus had made it his priority to make sure she would live. That did not prove to be easy. He still remembered the word he had said when Albus Dumbledore had asked what he would give in return for her protection.

_Anything._

It had seemed simple. What wouldn't he give to protect Lily Evans? It had proved to be very difficult indeed. The hardest thing was to lie to the Dark Lord's face. Nobody does it; he simply knew when he was being lied to. Severus, however, was perhaps one of the cleverest Death Eater. He knew how to lie convincingly. And, he did. He became a Hogwarts Professor shortly after Lily's son, Harry Potter, was born.

In October of that year, Severus was found in the Hog's Head drinking his problems away and that is when he met Jennifer Wright. Jen was small in every way. She had long brown hair. She wasn't the type to turn head or the type to make you throw up. She was the type that danced on the line between ugly and pretty without really falling over any side of that line. She was a year younger then Severus. Jen was interested in Dark Arts, which is what lead the conversation. She wasn't active with the art itself, she simply found it fascinating. She wasn't the brightest, but she wasn't stupid. She wasn't the quietest, but she wasn't loud.

It was such a surprise when Jen showed interest in Severus (Or perhaps it was the alcohol) that he was taken aback. Girls like her never even acknowledge that he existed (except Lily, who was now in the arms of a man Severus hated beyond all.) The mix of the alcohol, the thought of Lily in James Potter's arm and the smell of Jen's not too exaggerated perfume lead Severus to her (Jen's) house that night.

It wasn't a waste of a night and Severus (though he'd never admitted it) rather enjoyed it.

The next time he heard of Jen was by owl two months later. She claimed to be pregnant. Severus ignored the letter.

The next time he saw Jen was two weeks after Lily's death. He heard a knock on his bedroom door at Hogwarts and in came Jen, Dumbledore and a little four months old girl. Even Severus's once cold heart couldn't resist melting as he held the baby girl in his arms. Jen had nowhere to go and Severus had agree to let her live in his house at Spinner's End. Since they weren't married, the girl had taken her mother's surname. Jen had decided to call her Hayley Wright.

Severus made regular visit to his house at Spinner's End during the school year and lived with them during the summer. Jen and Severus became very good friends and it was only on occasion (when alcohol was involved) that they shared a bed. Besides Dumbledore, Jen was the only one whom Severus had told about his love for the green eyes, red haired girl. Jen had, in return, told Severus about her once-in-a-lifetime love who had broken her heart after four years of being together to go out with some slutty little girl.

Meanwhile, Jen had a sister, Erica Williams, who was married to a man called Travis Williams. Erica had married him straight after graduation as Travis was five years older than she was. Erica had a baby boy not long after she got married.

Erica had an affair with Sirius Black for about a year. When things got crazy at home she would go to a bar where Sirius would always be on weekends.

Erica's baby boy died unexpectedly one day and the cause of his death was never found.

Erica became pregnant again in the summer of 1980 (the same one Harry was born) and decided it was time to take care of her family. She stopped her affair. A baby girl was born in March by the name of Jessica Williams.

Next November, Sirius Black was brought to Azkaban and Travis was found dead. His death remains a mystery.

Jessica became a single mom.

* * *

**I was thinking about starting chapter 1 when Hayley and Jessica would start Hogwarts (which would mean the Chamber of Secrets when referring to the books.) **

**Tell me if you think this is a good idea! **


	2. Chapter 1 - Through Hayley's Eyes

**Thank you for those who already have faith in this story!**

**This chapter is made up entirely of Snape's daughter, Hayley's POV.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Through Hayley's Eyes**

The floor was cold, but perhaps it was better that way. It sent a cool sensation up her arms and her back as she lay motionless on the ground. She shivered every time one of her bruises touched the ice cold floor of the dungeon. She concentrated on the cold floor so as to not be aware of how much every part of her body seemed to scream in pain.

Hayley Wright wasn't one to cry or to quit. For the first time in her life, she wanted to do both. She wanted to surrender. She was physically and emotionally exhausted to the point of wanted to walk up to the enemies and beg them to end her pain in exchange for death.

She became aware of her breath. How was it that it had never stopped? It was stronger than anything else in her body. When everything was broken, it kept on.

She heard a door click.

'Time to say your last prayers!' She heard the women's laughing voice ring through.

It seemed almost comical that the women even knew what a prayer was. It then occurred to Hayley that it was probably her way of making fun of muggles. The other thing she registered was that she was going to die. The women had no use for her anymore. This is exactly what she, Hayley, wanted. She wanted the women to kill her, though she hoped it would be a simple _Avada Kedavra_.

'I'll be back later. Unless you want to give us something useful…' She let the phrase echo away in the dark dungeon and Hayley heard her closed the door behind her.

They say your life flashes through your mind when you know you're dying. It had almost seemed silly to her. How could your life flashes before you? As she lay there waiting for death, Hayley tried to remember what had trigger this event. What would have made it different? She knew of course what the answer was. Somebody had told her years ago that she had made the wrong decision and this is exactly where she would end up.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember the day that it had all started. It had been such a good day. It had been her very first day at Hogwarts… it was such a long time ago…

* * *

Hayley's eleven year old self woke up bright and early that day. Excitement didn't even begin to describe how she felt. She then realised that what had woken her up was the black owl sitting on her small bedroom window.

'Barry!' She said recognising the owl at once.

She crossed her very small room to reach the owl and took the letter that he had been carrying.

_AREN'T YOU EXCITED?!_

_I mean, pardon my lack of formality. (Don't tell my mom)_

_Dear Hayley, _

_Today we go to HOGWARTS!_

_We should meet up at the station and ride together on the train._

_Can't wait to see you!_

_Jessica_

Hayley smiled as she scribbled.

_Yes, we should. I'm sending you your owl back. _

_See you on the train!_

Hayley looked around for muggle clothes to wear and she brushed her hair before looking at her reflection in the mirror. People often told her that she looked like her mom, though Hayley herself didn't really see it. She was short, skinny and pale (not as much as her father). She had inherited her mother's blue eyes and her father's black hair. Her hair was long and perfectly straight. She hated it. She wanted her hair to be wavy and fun. It was annoyingly simple.

Hayley sighed before doing some last minute packing. While doing this she looked around at her room for what could be the last time in a while. There were posters everywhere of her favorite bands. While most wizard and witches were into Quidditch, Hayley was more into music. There was a stack of parchments in one of her drawer with song's lyrics she had made up and she would then dance about the room singing while pretending se was on stage.

She smiled at the memory and clicked her luggage closed. She made her way to the kitchen, which was on the same floor. Her mother was already there with breakfast ready.

'Good morning sweetheart!' She said happily sitting down on the table. 'Are you ready for your first day?'

'Yes!' Hayley said with a squeal. 'Jessica wrote to me and we're going to meet at the train station.'

Her mother nodded. 'I'll be bringing you. Your father's already left for Hogwarts. Now, remember your father's going to have to call you 'Wright' or it might show favoritism. For respect, you might have to call him 'Professor Snape' and say 'sir' at the end of your sentences.'

'Can the others know that he's my dad?' Hayley asked through a bite of toast.

Her mother hesitated before saying, 'That's for you to decide who should know.'

This had seemed like a rather easy answer at the time and Hayley finished her toast in piece.

They arrived at the train station at ten fifteen where Jessica stood waiting.

'Hayley!' Jessica screamed as she flung her arms around her.

Jessica, Hayley's cousin, was about a head taller than Hayley; she had long blond wavy hair that Hayley envied.

'I wanted to wait for you to cross the barrier.' Jessica was saying. She was very chatty this morning. 'I can't believe we're finally off to Hogwarts! Anyways, I had a peek at others crossing the barrier between 9 and 10 and it doesn't seem too difficult. I'm happy we're here early. We might get an empty compartment. I'd be less awkward then asking some others to join their already half full ones.'

'Let's go, then.' Hayley said excitedly.

Hayley and Jessica walked towards the barrier 9 ¾ while their mothers were chatting amicably behind them. Once they crossed the barrier, which wasn't that difficult, Hayley and Jessica easily found an empty compartment.

After saying some tearful goodbyes to their mothers, they set up for the long journey to Hogwarts by taking out a game of exploding snaps.

It was a few minutes after the train left that they spoke to anybody new. A freckly girl with long red hair entered their compartment.

'Er- hi?' She said uncertainly. 'Can I-?' She pointed at the empty seat beside Hayley. 'The train is pretty full.'

'Yeah, sure.' Jessica had said in a friendly manner. She had always been really social. 'Want to join our game?' She added as the new arrival sat down next to Hayley.

'Ok.' The red head said smiling.

'What's your name by the way?' Jessica asked.

'Ginny Weasley.' The girl spoke with more confidence than before. 'It's my first time here.'

'Us too!' Jessica yelped. 'I'm Jessica Williams and that's my cousin Hayley Wright. I hope we're all in the same house.'

* * *

_I hope we're all in the same house. _

The words rang into Hayley's head like a sharp knife. Of course, back then it had seemed harmless. What else could it be? They had met a new friend and they wanted more than anything to share a dormitory. _This_, Hayley decided was what triggered the successions of events that led her to be sprawled on this cold dungeon floor.

Hayley searched through her memory a bit more trying to remember the details of that trip.

* * *

Hayley had started to like Ginny by the time noon came around and the games of explosion snaps came to an end. It was then that a bushy haired girl entered their compartment.

'Are you Ginny?' She asked pointing towards Ginny herself.

Ginny frowned. 'Yeah… why?'

The girl seemed satisfied. 'I'm Hermione Granger, your brother, Ron's friend. I heard Harry was at your house this summer and I can't seem to find any of them. I've _tried_ asking Fred and George, but of course, that proved to be pointless. Apparently, blowing up the train's seats is far more important.'

'Oh.' Was Ginny's replied. She seemed surprise by this sudden girl.

'Are you all new to Hogwarts?' Hermione asked looking at all three of them while forgetting that she was looking for her lost friends.

'Yeah.' Jessica replied. 'Are you?'

'No, it'll be my second year.' Hermione replied happily as she took the empty seat beside Jessica. 'I'm in Gryffindor. What house do you guys hope to be in?'

Ginny was ready for this question at all rate. 'Gryffindor.' She replied at once. 'All my family's been in that house since anybody could remember.'

'My mum was in Ravenclaw and my dad was in Hufflepuff.' Jessica said happily. 'Of course, mum's always telling me that I act like a Gryffindor. I don't know where I got that from? But, I think I either want to be in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. I suspect I'll be in Gryffindor since mum predicted it.'

'Both my parents were in Slytherin.' Hayley said which made Hermione and Ginny crunch their nose. 'But, dad says he doesn't want me in there. He says that they're a lot of influence and peer pressure in the house. I think he wants me to be in Ravenclaw, because it's all about knowledge.'

'Gryffindor doesn't stop you from having knowledge.' Hermione sniffed.

'Yeah… okay, but we need to decide on a house.' Jessica said impatiently. 'If we want to be together, we need to decide what house we all agree on.'

'But, we're not the ones deciding, are we?' Ginny asked quite confused.

'We are.' Hayley said smiling. 'Dad said that if we wish really hard on what house we want to be in, we'll end up in that one.'

'I'm going in Gryffindor!' Ginny said looking relief.

'I'm ok with that.' Jessica said. 'It's where I should be I suppose. Hayley?'

'I – er –' Hayley looked up at Jessica. She was the only person Hayley really knew, her only friend. 'Yeah, ok. Gryffindor it is.'

Jessica seemed satisfied. 'We're going to have so much fun these next seven years.'

* * *

_These next seven years. _

It occurred to Hayley that it hadn't been seven years yet. She was still in the seven years of 'fun' range that the eleven year old Jessica had mentioned.

But, all the same, it had been fun at first…

* * *

Hogwarts was _big_. That was the first adjective that Hayley thought upon seeing the huge castle while riding in the boat with Jessica, Ginny and a calm boy called Richard Cameron.

Hagrid, a giant man who claimed to be the caretaker, lead them inside the castle doors and dropped them off to a severe Professor by the name of Minerva McGonagall. Hayley had already met this women a couple of time because of her dad.

'Welcome to Hogwarts.' Professor McGonagall had said once they were inside one of the classrooms. She went off into a monologue about the four houses, but Hayley was way too nervous to be listening. She knew all that stuff anyways. She had asked her father so many questions that nothing was much of a surprise.

When McGonagall lead them to the Great Hall, Jessica whispered, 'Gryffindor right?'

Hayley nodded nervously.

The Great Hall was splendid with all his candles and the twilight ceiling. The first years halted in front of the head table where Hayley tried to spot her father, but he seemed to be absent, which was weird. Her father had said that he would be there when she was to be sorted.

The sorting hat sang a song in which Hayley was barely aware of. Where was her father? Had something perhaps happen?

Professor McGonagall had started naming names in alphabetical order. Being a Wright probably made her last or next to. Perhaps it was the nerves, but the list seemed to drag on and on.

'Weasley, Ginny!' McGonagall called and Ginny stepped forward.

The hat had barely touched her head when it shouted, 'GRYFFINDOR!'

'Williams, Jessica.'

Jessica stepped over to the stool. The hat took a good fifteen seconds to decide.

'GRYFFINDOR!' It finally shouted.

'Wright, Hayley.'

Hayley was the last one left. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. The hat dropped past her eyes and a small voice spoke to her.

'Ah, yes.' It said. 'We've got a loyal one here. You want to stay with your friends, but you're afraid of disappointing your father. You have courage. More than you think. This is what you want, dear.'

'GRYFFINDOR!' It shouted out loud.

* * *

_You have courage. More than you think._

Did she? Did she have courage? Wasn't it courage that led her here? It seemed like a pretty stupid thing to have now a days.

She opened her eyes to the pitch black dungeon. She couldn't even see three feet in front of her. It would end soon. She closed her eyes again and found that happy memory once more.

* * *

'I wonder where my father's at?' Hayley whispered to Jessica halfway through their first meal at Hogwarts.

Jessica shrugged. 'I haven't seen him.'

'Did you guys hear the latest?' A loud voice said a couple of seats down. 'Harry Potter and one of his friends, what's-his-name Weasley, flew an enchanted car here. They're in trouble.'

Ginny had gone white.

'Weasley?' Hayley voiced to Ginny.

'My brother Ron is friends with Harry Potter.' She said quietly.

'What?' Jessica said excitingly. 'Can you introduce us?'

Ginny's cheek rose. 'I'm not really friends with – I mean he did stay over for the summer, but-'

'You _have_ to tell us everything!' Jessica exclaimed.

'Who's Harry Potter?' A small first year boy asked curiously.

'You don't know who Harry Potter is?' His companion asked shockingly.

'My parents aren't wizard.' The boy replied. He looks at the three girls and said, 'I'm Colin Creevey.'

'Oh. Hi.' Jessica said. 'And who are you?' She asked to the other guy.

'I'm Malcolm Carter.' He said pompously. He seemed rather conceited.

'So, I guess we'll all be in the same classes.' Ginny pointed out.

'Us too.' A girl voiced on the other side of Hayley. 'I'm Brittany Richardson, that's Madeline Green-'

'Call me Mady!' The girl said.

'-And that's Rebecca Johnson.'

Hayley's first impression of them was that all three of them seemed snobby.

'And we are,' started the boy across Brittany. 'Matthew McPhee, Jeremy Donovan and Lucas White.'

These three guys seemed pretty alright.

'Should be fun here.' Rebecca said smiling.

'So, is anybody going to tell me about that Harry Potter bloke?' Colin asked impatiently.

* * *

_Harry Potter. _

Wasn't it a bit his fault that she was here? Didn't her father warn her about him? What did Hayley do? She became friends with Ginny. Ron's sister. Harry's best mate's sister.

She resumed to her memory trying not to think too much.

* * *

Malcolm told the Harry Potter story in such a way that it almost seemed like he, Malcom, was important even though he had absolutely no place in the story.

Half way through Malcolm's reciting of the story, Jessica pinched Hayley on the arm and pointed at the Head table. Hayley's dad and Dumbledore had just arrived.

'I didn't even notice that Dumbledore had left.' Hayley whispered.

Jessica shrugged and whispered, 'Well, at least you know your dad isn't dead or something.'

Matthew McPhee shifted the conversation away from Harry Potter when he mentioned classes and Professors.

'McGonagall is the head of our house.' He said. 'My brother is in third year and that's what he rekons.'

'I heard she's strict but fair.' Rebecca Johnson replied. 'My brother's also here. In Ravenclaw though.'

'Flitwick's a doll.' Matthew went on.

'Sprout's okay.' Rebecca continued on.

Matthew looked over at the staff table as if to make sure no one could hear him. He shifted on the bench and said quietly. 'I heard Snape could be pretty horrible.'

Hayley felt her face heat up.

Rebecca was on the same side as Matthew. 'Yeah, I heard he's a real git.'

'He looks like one.' Brittany Richardson pointed out.

Hayley was looking pointlessly away. She remembered what her mom had said that morning about telling people who her father was. Maybe she shouldn't have gone in Gryffindor.

'Why is he _so_ horrible?' Jessica asked and it occurred to Hayley that she was shocked by this information as well.

Matthew shrugged. 'We'll see I guess.'

'I heard he favors his house.' Ginny added. 'Slytherin.'

Hayley was feeling Jessica's eyes on her, but she couldn't look at her.

It was late by the time they went over to their dormitory. They each had their own bed with curtains and a small bathroom with one shower.

'We'll have to draw up a schedule if we're going to be six girls on one shower.' Mady Green pointed out annoyed.

Hayley's main worry wasn't the shower. She hadn't spoken much since the bashing of her father. She quickly got into her pyjamas and settled for bed. Jessica went to join her.

Jessica looked over at the three girls who were exploring the bathroom and Ginny who seemed preoccupied by a diary before determining that it was safe to whisper.

'Listen, about your dad-'

Hayley shook her head. 'Don't tell anyone, please.'

'But, Hayley-'

'I know I shouldn't be ashamed, but I'll tell them eventually. I just don't want to be judge on the very first day. I'd like to see how he really is when he teaches.'

Jessica nodded. 'Alright. I won't tell anyone, but it's a pretty big thing to hide, isn't it?'

'Not really.' Hayley said slowly. 'He's my Professor, so no matter what I have to call him Snape, right? I have my mother's last name, so nobody could really suspect anything. Plus, everybody says that I look like mom.'

'What about your dad, is he going to say anything?'

'I think… I think I'll go talk to him tomorrow morning…'

Jessica seemed shocked. 'You're going to _tell him_ what they said.'

'No, no.' Hayley said hastily. 'I'll just say that I'd like to be treated like everybody else, because I don't want him to show favoritism and that… I don't know I'll figure something out.'

* * *

Hayley took a deep breathe. Would things have been differently if she had admitted from the start who she really was? She thought about Matthew. If only she had known then. She thought about Richard Cameron who shared their boat. If only she had known then. She thought about Ginny. She thought about Rebecca. She thought about…

_God. _

It _had_ been a good day even with the knowledge that most of her house hated her father; she had gone to bed quite happy. Now, laying on the floor waiting for death, it didn't matter anymore who hated her father and who did not.

These were _her _mistakes and it seemed almost silly to continue on when she was the one who brought herself to be here. She didn't see the point of going on.

* * *

**I usually like to make my chapters a bit longer, but I wanted to put one chapter today.**

**I know that Severus and Hayley didn't interact, but I will make them in the next chapter. **

**Tell me what you think!**


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